Café de Nuit

I'm curious to see if anyone here uses PCGen or another program for creating d20 characters.

I don't have any software actually...

Though it would be really handy to have some.

I use only online versions of NPC generators. Cheaper and such...
PCs I make by hand.

Since the majority of my gaming group uses E-tools I've chose to do the same. It make it easier for our group to share infromation if we use the same format. Since we sometimes co-DM campaigns this is a must.

I used to use E-Tools before I started doing Ravenloft but I could never get it to do exactly what I wanted. Since then, I have made all NPCs, and the few occasions where I have made PCs, by hand. I have actually become notorious for making NPCs with full sheets that the players never end up running into lol. I have a stack a foot high of unused NPCs lying around.

Only recently I get a character creation SW, but I have to admit that I have never use it! I'm used to make all my characters on paper.

PCGen is free.

http://pcgen.sourceforge.net

It offers the modern, system reference document and revised system reference document as well of a host of approved (mostly 3.0 fantasy) source materials.

It's alot more powerful than e-tools, but a lot more difficult to master (that is, if you want to create your own materials).

What other software is out there?

I use a really good excel spreadsheet I found on the net that has all the 3.5 info built right in. I can't remember the address right now, but I can post it when I get home. I like that it's in excel so I can alter it to meet my needs (like adding "Goblin" as a race or "wererat" as a class, or ravenloft feats, or whatever)...

If I need to generate a character I usually use the generator that came with the 3rd Edition Players Handbook. Otherwise, I prefer to do it by hand.

I might look into this one though, it sounds quite good. Thanks.

I personnaly create all NPCs by hand in my game. Throwing the dices to make a character is actually one of my favorite part of gaming.

Yeah, I can appreciate dice rolling. Actually, with PCGen, you can't roll the dice automatically (You roll them yourself, as usual, and input the result). Gives a much better tabletop feel.

The character generator that came with the PHB evolved into e-tools, which has then been taken over by a group called Code Monkey Publishing, who also produce datasets for PCGen on behalf of Wizards and other manufactuerers. They're making another program called RPG Toolset (I think it's called) which will also be sponsored by Wizards.

Where do I get my info? I am a datamonkey over there. I just finished converting a ravenloft dataset (but sorry, it's not official, so I can't share it for now).

gonzoron wrote:I use a really good excel spreadsheet I found on the net that has all the 3.5 info built right in. I can't remember the address right now, but I can post it when I get home. I like that it's in excel so I can alter it to meet my needs (like adding "Goblin" as a race or "wererat" as a class, or ravenloft feats, or whatever)...

Kwel beans! Let me know when you find this sheet - I perfer to use Excell sheets for character sheets.

Well the good news is I found the sheet, and it's got a website:
http://www.freenet.edmonton.ab.ca/~buhrger/dnd/
The bad news is the site seems to be down.

Sorry!

Nooooooooooo!

Fate, why have you forsaken your most beloved child?